Gokanosho -Hidden Village-

INTRODUCTION

It’s been already 5 years since I had moved to Gokanosho. I was not born in this secluded region, but the beauty of nature in here with Spring greens, Summer cool, Autumn reds and Winter snow brought me to the deep of mountains.

Gokanosho is a general term for a set of 5 villages belonging to Yatsushiro city with only 300 inhabitants in a very deep and steep mountainous area, isolated from cities surrounded by mountains. The legend says that when “Heike”, the first Samurai clan who came to power in the central government for the first time ever in Japan’s history, was defeated by their rival Samurai clan “Genji” in the late 12th century. But some of Heike survivers managed to flee to Gokanosho after the battles, and have survived in this harsh environment for a long period of time until today. You cannot find any smell of civilization such as convenience stores, pay phones, traffic lights, police department, neon lights, or even any flat ground here. The pavement only went on 50 years as well as the electricity. The only thing we have got is breathtakingly beautiful nature and our way of living. Those people have lived in this place hiding from their enemy for a long long period of time… Come visit to Gokanosho, be a refugee to relax and enjoy yourself as well as the refugees of Heike clan…

HIGHLIGHTS

SIGHTSEEING & HIKES

Umenoki-Todoro waterfall Autumn

Umenoki-Todoro Autumn

Umenoki-Todoro waterfall

Sendan-Todoro Autumn

Sendan-Todoro Autumn view

Sendan-Todoro Autumn view

Sendan-Todoro at the bottom

Sendan-Todoro waterfall

Sendan-Todoro waterfall, one of the 100 Best waterfalls of Japan’s

Sendan-Todoro waterfall

Sendan-Todoro

Water flows through beautiful rocks of Sendan-Todoro

Umenoki-Todoro suspension bridge Autumn view

Umenoki-Todoro suspension bridge

Lower bridge of the twins

Twin suspension bridges of Momigi -Used to be the only road for the locals…

Twin suspension bridges of Momigi, used to be local’s only road to cross the gorge

Twin suspension bridges of Momigi Autumn

On this tour, you can visit Sendan-Todoro waterfall, Umenoki-Todoro suspension bridge and waterfalls, Twin suspension bridges of Momigi, Heike-no-Sato museum and Ogata-ke, the former ruler’s mansion which is built in Samurai house style. And you can also go on mountain treks after an overnight stay at Minshuku (Japanese style accommodation, dinner, bed & breakfast operated by a family) if you’d like to.
You can forget everything about your daily life and work in this unusual environment.

MOUNTAIN TREKKING

Click on the above banner and see the details about the mountain trekking.

ACCOMMODATION

In Gokanosho, we have 8 “Minshuku” accommodation in total. Let me introduce you 3 of them this time. Minshuku is a guesthouse type inn, mostly run and operated by family members. They provide BED, BATH, DINNER (local cuisine) & BREAKFAST at a reasonable price and a comfortable atmosphere. Enjoy having conversations with the inn keepers when they serve their own hand made meal. It will surely be an unforgettable moment in your life.

Film

A film crew from Griffith University (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) spent a week in Gokanosho in 2014 to shoot a documentary film titled “Gokanosho: Lost in Time”, which was submitted to the Cannes International Film Festival. This is a total documentary of the stories told by the local people of Gokanosho, shot live to recording. And I am also one of the story tellers here.

ITINERARY (example)

DAY 1
09:00 Pickup at your hotel in Kumaoto and head out to Yatsushiro
10:50 Visit Nihon-sugi Pass observatory
_____and overlook the entire Northern Kumamoto area
11:40 Hike at Sendan-Todoro waterfall
12:50 Scenic ride through hidden villages
13:30 Visit Heike-no-sato museum for lunch
_____and learn about the history
15:00 Hike at Twin suspension bridges of Momigi
16:30 Check in to Minshuku
19:00 Dinner with tour guide

DAY 2 PLAN A
09:30 Departure
09:45 Hike at Umenoki-Todoro suspension bridge and waterfalls
11:00 Head out to Yatsushiro
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Visit Moritaka Hamono, traditional knife shop
_____to have a look around in their workshop
15:00 move on to next destination

DAY 2 PLAN B
07:15 Breakfast
08:00 Set off for Trail head
09:00 Start mountain trekking
11:30 Lunch
15:00 Finish mountain trekking
_____To your next destination or back to Minshuku

Max number of people: 5 or 7 or 9 depending on luggage*Sorry, my 8-seater van can’t accommoate both you and luggage if you are over 5 people with big luggage. But I can cope with that case by hiring a 10-seater van which costs around 35,000 JPY per day.